


Where Troubles Melt Like Lemon Drops

by fluffbird



Series: Post-Canon Spiritshipping Shenanigans [5]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Genre: (he can teleport ok), (only mentioned in like 1 sentence tho), (you can ignore it if you like), Badly Written Kisses Because I Am A Loser Who Has Never Been Kissed, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, Judai Has Magic Powers, M/M, Mentions of Human Experiments, Mentions of Violence, Panic, This one's kinda dark, Trans Johan, worrying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-06
Updated: 2016-12-06
Packaged: 2018-09-06 22:18:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8771566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fluffbird/pseuds/fluffbird
Summary: Johan is paid a surprise visit by a terrified and injured Judai, who teleports into his apartment and then promptly collapses on him. Johan takes care of Judai.





	

**Author's Note:**

> As I said in the tags, this one contains some slightly dark stuff. If you're a sensitive individual, just don't read Judai's explanation of what happened to him and you should be fine. Also, as always, constructive criticism would be much appreciated!!
> 
> Also, has anyone picked up on the naming scheme that I'm using for the stories from Johan's POV? Granted there's only two of those so far, but it shouldn't be that hard to see.

One moment, Johan was sitting in the kitchen of his apartment and enjoying his breakfast. It was a peaceful morning, sunlight shining in through the windows and birds chirping in the distance. On the floor beside him, Ruby Carbuncle was running around chasing their own tail. As close to a perfect morning as you could get, in Johan’s opinion.

The next moment, the world burst into chaos.

In a flash of red light Judai appeared in the middle of the room, a frantic-looking Winged Kuriboh by his side. While he usually never teleported directly into the apartment, the reason he had forsaken that rule was immediately apparent as the young duelist stumbled and only barely managed to stop himself from falling by grabbing hold of a nearby chair.

“Judai!” exclaimed Johan, standing up in surprise. His breakfast was quickly forgotten as he rushed over to Judai’s side. Ruby, being just as worried as Johan, jumped up on his shoulder and followed along. “What happened? Are you okay?”

Judai struggled to lift his head, barely managing to meet Johan’s gaze. His eyes were blown wide, glowing strongly in the colors Johan so often saw in his nightmares. Sweat was running down his face, and his entire expression was contorted into one of absolute, pure _terror_.

“J-Johan,” he croaked, “ _Help_.”

The moment the plead for help left Judai’s mouth, his legs gave out and he collapsed. Thankfully, Johan’s reflexes were quick enough for him to catch the falling young man, but as Johan quickly noticed Judai seemed to have lost consciousness.

“Judai?” asked Johan, lightly shaking the boy in his arms in an attempt to wake him up.

When that didn’t work, Johan frowned and adjusted his grip on Judai so as to be able to carry him better. Gently, he carried his boyfriend through the apartment and into his bedroom, where he carefully put him down on the bed. Ruby refused to leave their position on Johan’s shoulder, and Winged Kuriboh too followed along, anxiously hovering around Judai.

Johan grabbed a chair from his desk and sat down next to the bed. He had no idea what was going on, but when someone like Judai teleports into the middle of your apartment with panic written all over his face, and then proceeds to just collapse on you, then something is _wrong_.

“Please be alright,” he mumbled, “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

As Johan sat there next to Judai, waiting for the other to wake up, Ruby started talking to Winged Kuriboh. The carbuncle was trying to find out what had happened, but to no avail. Whatever had happened seemed to have scared the winged fluffball enough that he refused to talk about it. This didn’t exactly make Johan feel any better about the situation.

The other Gem Beasts had also shown up, helping Johan keep watch over Judai. Sapphire Pegasus, Emerald Turtle, and Amber Mammoth were all stood behind him, while Amethyst Cat had settled on the foot of the bed and Topaz Tiger had squeezed in between Johan and the bed. Cobalt Eagle was hovering above them all.

“ _I’m sure he’ll be fine, Johan_ ” said Amethyst, without looking away from Judai’s sleeping figure, “ _Judai is tough. It takes a lot to break that boy._ ”

The other Gem Beasts nodded in agreement, save for Ruby who was busy trying to cheer Winged Kuriboh up.

“ _Amethyst Cat is right_ ,” said Sapphire, “ _You know as well as we do that Judai doesn’t go down that easily._ ”

Johan nodded weakly, but gave no other response.

He wasn’t really sure just how much time passed as he sat there, silently watching Judai. The Gem Beasts would talk to him occasionally, to reassure him further that Judai was alright and that he shouldn’t worry, but his only replies were small nods and sighs.

However, after what felt like an eternity, Judai finally twitched and made a grimace as his eyes started to flutter open.

In an instant, Johan leapt up from the chair and leaned down over Judai. The spirits in the room followed him, all wanting to make sure Judai was all right.

“Judai!” said Johan, “You okay?”

Judai squinted at the sudden brightness, but gave a small nod.

“Yeah, I think so,” he said. “Or, well. Physically at least.”

Johan leant back, allowing Judai to sit up. He then sat down on the bed next to him, taking his hand and looking him in the eyes - which while they were now back to their usual chocolate brown, were still shining with fear and a hint of sadness.

“Judai,” asked Johan with concern filling his voice, “What happened?”

Judai went stiff and averted his gaze.

“Something bad,” he said, “Something really, really bad.”

From beside the two, Winged Kuriboh made a weak noise of agreement. Ruby had done a pretty good job of cheering the other spirit up, but as soon as he remembered whatever had happened previously the spirit’s mood did a 180 and he looked down toward the floor.

Johan frowned, worry filling his eyes. If both Judai and Winged Kuriboh were this depressed, ‘Something really, really bad’ was probably the understatement of the year.

“Judai. Talk to me,” said Johan.

“It’s,” began Judai, “It’s a long story.”

“We have time. I can listen,” said Johan. “Please, Judai. I want to know what happened to you so that I can help you.”

Judai swallowed, and took in a deep breath. Johan noticed he’d started shaking.

“I- I- okay,” said Judai, “But I’m warning you. It was- It was horrible, Johan. It was horrible.”

Johan cast a quick glance at the spirits around the two, and they all nodded in understanding. Within moments, they had faded back into their cards in order to give Johan and Judai some privacy.

“Alright,” said Johan, “I think I can handle it. I’ve been through a lot, remember? Now talk to me.”

Judai nodded shakily.

“Johan, I need- Can you hold me?” he asked, voice shaking.

Johan nodded and switched his position around so that he was next to Judai. While leaning against the wall by the head of the bed, he gently put his arms around Judai. The other boy was still shaking a lot, but as Johan gently held him rubbed his back Judai’s body started relaxing a bit.

“I’m here,” said Johan, as Judai leaned into his comforting touch, “It’s okay. Now. Talk to me.”

Judai swallowed again, and started speaking.

“It was- It began- uh, I was just hanging out in some small town in Canada. I heard this rumour about kids disappearing from some local dueling tournament, so I decided to investigate because, you know, these are _kids_  we're talking about and you can’t just leave kids who might be in trouble,” he said, “So I went to investigate, and eventually I managed to track the kids to this abandoned warehouse. I- I went in there and I-”

Judai broke off mid sentence, taking a deep and shaky breath. His eyes were wet, Johan noticed. It probably wouldn’t be long before he started full-on crying. Johan furrowed his eyebrows, getting more concerned with every word Judai said.

“I found them,” said Judai, “I found the kids. A- and- and it was. It was. This guy… this one guy. This one guy, who had been targeting kids who could see spirits. Kidnapping them. Trying to- trying to do… horrible things. Experiments. Both to the kids and to the spirits. Just because it was fun to him, or something. And I tried to stop him but I- I- I failed, and he- he caught me, and he somehow stopped me from using my powers and he hurt me and I don’t know how but he hurt _Yubel_ and he almost killed them and they won’t talk to me and I- I-”

Judai broke off again, breathing desperately in an attempt to get enough air to continue speaking.

“I wanted to help everyone but I couldn’t,” he said weakly, “I barely got out of there myself. And then I ran like a coward, and ended up here.”

Johan closed his eyes, holding Judai even tighter.

“Judai,” he whispered into the other's ear. He noticed that his voice was shakier than he wanted it to be. Still, Judai didn't seem to notice. “It’s okay. You’re here now. You’re safe. And, judging by the way your eyes looked when you burst in here, so is Yubel. They’re probably just tired, like you are. You got out of there. Everything is going to be okay. And you are _not_ a coward.”

“But I- I couldn’t save the kids,” said Judai, “Those kids are still in there. They’re not safe and it’s my fault.”

“Judai, calm down,” said Johan, “I know, it’s horrible, but not every human’s life is your responsibility. We can contact the authorities there, tell them where the kids are. Judging from what you told me, regular people with no connection to spirits would probably be better equipped to deal with the situation anyway.”

“I- I guess,” mumbled Judai. At this point, Johan noticed he had started actually crying. “But I still feel horrible about it.”

“That’s normal,” said Johan, “It’s going to be okay. I’m here. You’re here. Breathe.”

Judai didn’t say anything, instead he just nodded and shifted so as to be even closer to Johan. He slid his arms around Johan's body, and buried his face in his soft chest. Normally, Johan would have objected to too much pressure in that area - especially when he, like right now, wasn’t wearing a binder - but he let it slide. Judai needed to be close to him right now.

After a while, Judai’s shaking slowed to a stop and he sat up straight, pulling away slightly from Johan. Judai caught Johan’s gaze, looking deep into his eyes.

“Johan, can I ask you something?” he asked.

“What is it?” asked Johan.

“Well,” said Judai, “I- I don’t think I can do this whole hero thing anymore. Not after this. I’m- I’m retiring from that, and I think I’ll need a place to stay. Would it- would it be okay if that place was here, with you?”

Johan blinked, eyes widening in surprise.

“Judai, of course!” he said, pulling Judai back to him for another hug. “I’m always happy to have you here. If a home is what you need then that is what I’ll give you.”

“Thank you” said Judai, while hugging Johan back. “And- and if me being with you really does make you that happy… I think I’d like to stay with you, forever.”

Johan pulled back, looking deep into Judai’s eyes.

“Judai,” he said, “I love you.”

“I love you too,” said Judai. A faint smile had appeared on his face, and although his eyes were still red and puffy, and although streaks of tears still ran down his cheeks, in that moment nothing but pure adoration was shining in his gaze.

After a moment's hesitation Judai leaned in, touching his forehead to Johan’s but waiting to let his boyfriend take the final step. Johan responded by closing his eyes and gently pressing his lips to Judai’s, bringing up his fingers to run through his boyfriend’s hair and feeling said boyfriend’s hands running up his back. Judai deepened the kiss, and Johan let out a faint moan as he felt blood rush to his cheeks.

Only a few seconds had passed when the two broke apart for air, but it felt like hours. Refusing to increase the distance between them, the two made sure to keep their foreheads connected. As their love-filled gazes met the two knew that no matter what, as long as they were together, everything would turn out alright.


End file.
